EDA Dairy Flash

#25
24 April 2015
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The latest news from the world of dairy
REGISTRATIONS OPEN !
14 – 16 October 2015: EDA
Annual Congress and EDA World
Dairy Forum in Edinburgh / UK
“2015 – A New Start for EU Dairy”
Early bird registrations for our EDA
Annual Congress and EDA World
Dairy Forum in Edinburgh will be
open until 30 June 2015 →
www.eda2015.eu
Dairy Report in the European
Parliament (EP)
“Prospects for the EU dairy
sector” – Amendments to the draft
Nicholson report
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Last week were published the
amendments to the draft report on
the “Prospects for the EU dairy sector
– Review of the implementation of
the Dairy package”. This own
initiative draft report by MEP Jim
Nicholson (UK, ECR) that was
presented at the EDA Dairy Policy
Conference in March 2015, is
currently discussed in the European
Parliament’s
Committee
on
Agriculture (COMAGRI). MEPs from
all political parties have submitted a
total of 482 amendments expressing
various ideas and positions.
MEP Jim Nicholson will have now to
come
up
with
compromise
amendments for the vote which is
currently scheduled for the week of
the 25th May. EDA is working on our
communication to MEPs ahead of the
vote
on
the
compromise
amendments.
EDA President Michel Nalet
speaking
at
the
Zenith
International’s 9th Global Dairy
Congress
th
Michel Nalet will speak at the 9
Global dairy Congress that takes
place on 23-25 June 2015 in
Amsterdam.
Royal
FrieslandCampina
invites
delegates at its new Innovation
Centre and the event will feature the
World Dairy innovation Awards at a
gala dinner on 24 June. Full
programme and registration details:
zenithinternational.com/events.
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“Achieving
a
trans-fat-free
Europe”: outcomes from the
MEP Heart Group panel debate
On 14 April 2015 the MEP Heart
group hosted a panel debate on
achieving a trans-fat-free Europe at
the European Parliament. On this
occasion, EDA took the opportunity
once again to reiterate its position on
trans fatty acids and its significant
importance for the dairy industry as
they are naturally occurring in dairy
products. EDA fully acknowledges
MEP
Mairead
McGuinness’
introductory remarks, where she
stressed that the focus would be on
industrially produced trans fatty acids
(IPTFAs), and not the trans fatty
acids (TFAs) that are naturally
present in foodstuffs.
During the panel debate, Mrs
Alexandra Nikolakopoulou (Head of
Unit, DG SANTE) presented the legal
context and the work carried out by
the Commission. The report on ITFAs
which should have been published on
13 December 2014 is planned to go
into inter-service consultation soon
and it can be expected that it will be
published by June 2015.
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eda@euromilk.org
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In the discussion that followed, MEP
Christel Schaldemose (Denmark)
insisted that a EU legislative
approach is needed. TFAs are not
good for anyone and there is no
reason to have them on the market.
She suggested sending a signal from
the European Parliament to the
European Commission that we need
legislation and that the time to act is
now. Whereas the Commission is
concerned about more regulation, it
should be clear that when it comes to
IPTFAs, legislation would in fact
imply better regulation.
The summary of the panel debate
and the presentations shown at the
meeting can be consulted on the
MEP Heart Group website via this
link.
School Food (milk) Scheme
The European Parliaments’ (EP)
agriculture committee (ComAgri)
adopted their amendments to the
Commission’s proposal for a new
School Food Scheme on 14 April by
32 votes to 6, with 7 abstentions. To
be noted that the amendment for the
inclusion of cacao flavored milk
drinks was rejected only by a small
majority.
The
EPP
group
(conservatives) intend to introduce
this amendment also to the plenary
vote. We are right now evaluating the
possibility to initiate also a plenary
vote on keeping the scope of dairy
produce eligible for the scheme as it
stands today.
The agriculture committee of the EP
(ComAGRI) recommended extending
the very restricted list of foodstuffs
eligible for EU funding, which was
proposed by the EU Commission, to
include not only plain milk but also
plain yoghurt and cheese. The
ComAGRI also advised that 10% 20% of the EU funding received by
the Member states is dedicated to
educational activities, proposed an
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additional €20 million a year for the
measures covering milk, (from 80
proposed
by
the
European
Commission up to €100 million) and
a fairer distribution of the budget
among Member States. The so-called
Tarabella
report
with
the
amendments will be presented for
vote at the plenary session of 27 May
plenary.
behavioural change intended by the
PEF methodology and tested in the
piloting phase should be based on
life cycle assessments and driven by
adequate communication tools to the
relevant target audiences. These
target
audiences
and
relating
messages will need to be chosen in
the coming months and then tested in
2016.
New promotion programs
Organic agriculture – state of
play
On Tuesday 21 April 2015, the
European Commission decided to
settle 41 programmes to promote
agricultural products in the EU and
the Third countries. The budget
reaches €130 million, with 50% from
the EU budget. Among the selected
programmes, dairy products from
Belgium, Bulgaria and France will be
supported, for a total amount of more
than €12 million over three years.
The Dairy pilot on environmental
footprinting
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Belgium
+32 2 549 50 40
eda@euromilk.org
@EDA_Dairy
This week in Paris the relevant
partners on the dairy product
environmental footprint (PEF) project
brought the project one step further.
The screening report had been
finalised at the beginning of April and
is currently in an external review
process. The meeting already
prepared the lines for the drafting of
the category rules themselves and
started its reflection about the
communication
phase.
The
During the official CDG (civil dialogue
group) on organic farming on 17 April
the Commission gave an overview on
the state of play in the Council and
pointed out that the question of
control of organic operators and the
presence of unwanted substances
were still dividing Members States
(MS). On the first issue, MS are
divided in two blocks with one block
supporting the approach taken by the
Commission in the draft proposal to
implement a risk-based control
system, while another block is in
favour of keeping the current yearly
physical control. The proposal for a
new
EU
organic
agriculture
legislation has received a very critical
echo from the very beginning. Since
the new EU Commission did indicate
a possible withdrawal of the proposal,
the co-legislator (EU Parliament (EP)
and Council) worked intensively
together to make some progress on
the legislative proposal.
The EP report (by MEP Martin
Häusling, Greens, Germany) will be
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published in May. The first reading
could then be finalized before the
summer break and the Luxembourg
EU presidency could moderate the
discussions
between
the
EU
institutions, building on the committed
work of the Italian presidency and the
very structured approach of the
Latvian presidency.
“The
political
flexibility
and
pragmatism that we see with the new
EU Commissioner Hogan does not
yet visibly translate into a more
pragmatic approach by the DG AGRI
administration”, a Council source
complained
earlier
this
week,
indicating that there were still issues,
like the specific residue levels, that
need to be addressed in order have
the proposal accepted.
Several MEPs underlined, that a
withdrawal of the proposal might
become the preferred option, if the
core concerns (residue limits, mixed
farms, feed requirements to name
just a few) were not taken into
account.
www.euromilk.org/eda
Avenue d’Auderghem
22-28
1040 Brussels
Belgium
+32 2 549 50 40
eda@euromilk.org
@EDA_Dairy
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